Results for "Toronto"

Sonic Explorations and Creative Improvisations at The Guelph Jazz Festival

by Dave Kaufman
October 5, 2019

In North America, there are over 100 annual jazz festivals. Only a small number of these festivals are devoted to the avant-garde, adventurous, and freely improvised music. The Vision Festival in New York City is perhaps the best known festival with its celebration of improvised music, dance, and poetry. There are a few others that are ...

Liane Fainsinger

Jazz Pianist and Vocalist South African born jazz pianist and vocalist, Liane Fainsinger has been captivating audiences and peers alike with her musical passion, virtuosity and talents. Her unique styling’s have carved a permanent place for herself in Toronto’s jazz scene, being a favorite act for the last 4 years at Yorkville Summer Music in the Park, as well as local music hot spots such as Relish Bar and Grill, 120 Diner, Gate 403, Hirut Café and was featured at Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. The Liane Fainsinger Trio and Quartet have included music greats such as Don Thompson, Richard Brisco, Brendan Davis, Artie Roth, Alexander Brown, Frank Botos and Bill McBirnie to name a few. Though classically trained, jazz took over Fainsinger’s heart and soul

Something Else! Festival 2019

by Mike Chamberlain
July 10, 2019

Something Else! St. John the Evangelist Church Hamilton, Ontario June 20-23, 2019 I must confess that I spend very little time in churches, so I would not normally be inclined to spend the first weekend of summer in one. But sometimes exceptions must be made, and such an exception ...

Tony Malaby with Nick Fraser at the Rex

by Dave Kaufman
May 29, 2019

I recently relocated to Toronto and I'm still familiarizing myself with the local jazz scene and musicians. The scene itself turns out to be more expansive and broader in musical scope than I anticipated. The Rex Jazz Bar and Hotel is the pre-eminent jazz club in the city. It features jazz seven nights a week with ...

Hilario Durán At Telus Centre

by Alain Londes
February 28, 2019

Hilario Durán and his Latin Jazz Big BandTelus Centre for Performance and LearningToronto, Canada February 9, 2019A “dream concert" is how Hilario Durán characterized the show featuring his Latin Jazz Big Band and the great drummer Horacio “El Negro" Hernández. Cuban-born piano great Durán settled in Canada in the mid-nineties and ...

Mandy Lagan

Mandy Lagan was born in England and raised in Ridgetown, a small town in southwestern Ontario. She studied piano and sang in various choirs under the tutelage of her mother who was a piano teacher, organist and choir director. She eventually picked up a guitar and learned some chords so she could accompany herself singing songs she knew, as well as work on her own writing. After graduating from Mohawk College Music Department Mandy went to McMaster University and got her B.A. in music. She began taking herself seriously as a singer in 1990 when she moved out of Hamilton and into Toronto and formed a band in order to work on some of her favourite music as well as develop her own compositions. In 2002 she released her first CD, "I Thought About You", a collection of jazz standards and two originals

Laila Biali

Born: October 3

Multi award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and CBC Music national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues spanning five continents from New York City’s Carnegie Hall to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and supported international icon Sting. In 2020, Laila was honoured by SOCAN Music with the Hagood Hardy Award for Excellence in Songwriting. In 2019, Laila’s eponymous release won her a JUNO (Canada’s GRAMMY) for “Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.” The year prior, she was awarded top prize at the Canadian Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category

Ron Davis

Born: August 22

“One of the great minds in jazz.” - Jazz FM JUNO AWARD nominee RON DAVIS. Pianist, composer, CBC and BBC Radio repeat performer, international favourite, solo artist, critics’ choice. Ron is a Canadian jazz visionary. His music blends genres and pushes boundaries, building on his jazz and classical training. He seeks new textures, new forms, new compositions, new formations and new ways of presenting his signature sound without losing a connection to audiences. The music is diverse in a characteristically Canadian way. Ron has released 13 critically acclaimed albums. His 12th, SymphRONica UpfRONt was honoured with a 2020 JUNO AWARD (Canada’s Grammy or BAFTA awards) “INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR” NOMINATION. Ron has travelled the world playing his innovative, fresh music

Andrew Rathbun | New Album Out On Steeplechase Records

December 6, 2018

Saxophonist, composer & Toronto native Andrew Rathbun has achieved a rare depth of lyricism, authoritative swing and compositional intelligence in nearly 20 years as a recording artist. Voted as a ‘rising star’ in this year’s Downbeat Critics Poll, he adds to his portfolio of stirring original albums this winter, with the release of Character Study on ...

Bill McBirnie

Bill McBirnie is a jazz and Latin flute specialist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has studied with renowned American flutist, Samuel Baron, distinguished Canadian flutist and composer, Robert Aitken, as well as Cuban charanga legend, Richard Egues. Bill has also been solicited by no less than Sir James Galway to serve as his resident Jazz Flute Specialist at Sir James' official web site. Bill is well known for his outstanding technique. However, he is also recognized as an exceptional improviser (notably in the bebop, swing and Latin idioms) as demonstrated by his recordings as a sideman with Junior Mance, Irakere, Memo Acevedo and Emile-Claire Barlow